Well… yes. Looking at the article, it satisfies the MVP requirements for getting grant funding. A bar GlucoWatch cleared more than two decades ago, though it could never quite clear the bar of clinical viability.
I have probably seen "viable" overinterpreted 100s of times by now. Perhaps we need to re-interpret the 'V' in "MVP" as "VC-investable" or perhaps replace it with 'I' to be I)nvestible which gets you a more pronounceable "MIP" (and maybe, just maybe highlights uncertainty since all investment carries risk)? Happens to also abbreviate "Multum In Parvo" (Latin for "many/much in little") which is not even that far off from the semantic. ;-)
Indeed, and for different audiences, you need to be ready to present your MIP with different levels of detail. I propose we call this new process... MIP mapping. :p
Theranos also had an MVP in this sense :)